Head of Platform Architecture (all genders)

Arbeitsagentur; Darmstadt; Hybrid; EUR 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Arbeitsagentur is seeking a senior Platform Architect to shape enterprise-scale software and data platforms. You will own end-to-end architecture across multi-cloud environments, defining security, scalability, and maintainability strategies while guiding deployment models and governance.

You will lead the architecture team, mentor engineers, and ensure clear communication of decisions to engineers, product leaders, auditors, and executives. Hybrid work options are available.

Qualifications

• Significant experience designing and delivering enterprise-scale software, cloud, data, or AI platforms.
• Deep hands-on cloud-native architecture across providers, with containers and Kubernetes.
• Experience owning secure architecture decisions in production environments with audit-ready platforms.
• Leadership experience in managing and developing technical teams, hiring and coaching.
• Degree or equivalent in CS/SE/Data Science/Math/Physics or related field.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end platform architecture across a portfolio of cloud-native products and deployment models.
• Define architectural principles for security, scalability, resilience, and maintainability.
• Lead decisions on deployment strategies (multi-cloud, hybrid, customer-managed) balancing residency and cost.
• Lead and grow the platform architecture team, with hiring, onboarding, and career development.
• Communicate architectural trade-offs clearly to engineers, product leaders, customers, and executives.

Skills

Enterprise software design

Cloud architecture

Data & AI platforms

Education

CS/Software Engineering/Data Science/Mathematics/Physics degree or equivalent

Tools

Kubernetes

Job description

Work Your Magic with us!

Ready to explore, break barriers, and discover more? We know you’ve got big plans – so do we! Our colleagues across the globe love innovating with science and technology to enrich people’s lives with our solutions in Healthcare, Life Science, and Electronics. Together, we dream big and are passionate about caring for our rich mix of people, customers, patients, and planet. That's why we are always looking for curious minds that see themselves imagining the unimaginable with us.

Your Role

You will shape the technical foundation that makes enterprise-grade digital platforms and data products trusted, scalable, and ready for customers. In this pivotal role, you will own the end-to-end platform architecture across a portfolio of cloud-native products and deployment models — translating ambiguous business and customer needs into clear technical strategy, reusable capabilities, and executable roadmaps. You will define architectural principles covering security, scalability, resilience, and maintainability, and design data and AI platforms that span ingestion, transformation, storage, analytics, lineage, access control, and secure multi-tenancy. You will lead decisions on deployment strategies — including multi-cloud, hybrid, and customer-managed models — balancing data residency, cost, portability, and compliance. Applying security-by-design and defense-in-depth, you will ensure platforms are certifiable and audit-ready, translating frameworks such as ISO/IEC 27001, SOC 2, NIST, GDPR, and GxP into concrete architectural controls. You will stay close to implementation — reviewing designs, prototypes, and critical code paths, establishing practices for infrastructure-as-code, continuous delivery, observability, and production operations, and helping teams move confidently from prototype to production. Beyond the technical work, you will lead, develop, and grow the platform architecture team: hiring, onboarding, coaching, managing performance, planning succession, and raising the technical bar across all levels. You will communicate architectural decisions, trade-offs, and constraints clearly to engineers, product leaders, customers, partners, auditors, and senior stakeholders — making complexity accessible without losing precision.

Who You Are

• You bring significant experience designing and delivering enterprise-scale software, cloud, data, or AI platforms and customer-facing digital products, with a proven ability to translate complex customer problems into architectures and executable roadmaps.
• You have deep, hands‑on expertise in cloud-native architecture on at least one major provider (AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform) — including containers and Kubernetes, serverless, networking, identity and access management, and observability — alongside practical working knowledge of at least one additional provider.
• You have substantial experience owning secure architecture decisions in production environments, with working knowledge of relevant frameworks such as ISO/IEC 27001, SOC 2, NIST, GDPR, and, where applicable, HIPAA or GxP/GAMP 5, including designing platforms that are certifiable and audit-ready.
• You have experience designing secure multi-tenant platforms and data architectures covering ingestion, transformation, storage, analytics, lineage, access controls, tenant‑aware governance, and data quality, across multi-cloud, hybrid-cloud, or customer-managed deployment models.
• You have several years of direct experience managing and developing technical teams — including hiring, onboarding, performance management, coaching, career development, succession planning, and resource planning — and the credibility to challenge and mentor senior and principal engineers while remaining accountable for technical quality and delivery outcomes.
• You hold a degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science, Mathematics, Physics, or a related discipline, or bring equivalent practical experience, combined with typically 10 or more years in software engineering, cloud architecture, data-platform engineering, or related technical disciplines, including at least 7 years delivering production‑grade, enterprise‑scale platforms.
• You are proficient enough in modern programming languages such as Python, TypeScript, Java, or Go to review designs and critical code paths and guide implementation teams, and you have experience building commercial software products, SaaS platforms, or customer-managed deployments.
• You communicate fluently in English and can explain architectural decisions, limitations, costs, and trade-offs clearly to engineers, product leaders, customers, partners, auditors, and executives.

Location: Location-independent, hybrid flexibility.

What we offer:

We are curious minds that come from a broad range of backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences. We believe that this variety drives excellence and innovation, strengthening our ability to lead in science and technology. We are committed to creating access and opportunities for all to develop and grow at your own pace. Join us in building a culture of inclusion and belonging that impacts millions and empowers everyone to work their magic and champion human progress!